The day of the Spring Inter-high Qualifier Finals is finally taking event. The stadium fills up in less than half an hour, excited to witness the battle of the crows versus eagle. " l/n-chan? Do you have everything prepared?" Coach Saito asks before the team boards the big bus. You frantically look at the pile of bags sitting beside you, counting them in your head. One for drinks, one for towels. You nod your head after you feel satisfied that all the items the team needed is complete.
Footsteps of the boys stepping in the bus arise, the coaches do a last head count and realize the top player, Ushijima was late. Even though he had already told the team he might be a few minutes late today, you guys never thought that he would be this late. It was weird to all of you since Ushijima was never late to any game.
Your heart begins to pound nervously. " Where could he be?" You whisper the questions to yourself. " hey, f/n-chan. Call Wakatoshi-Kun, he'll answer if it's you" Tendou's head peeks out of the bus window, which was already rolled down despite the bus having an ac system. You nod your head in agreement and began to press your fingers on your phone screen, dialling your boyfriend's number.
A few rings later, Ushijima finally picks up. "Wakatoshi, are you alright? Where are you?" You press him with questions. Ushijima stays silent for a few seconds before he answers. " Yeah. Sorry, I'm going to be late for a while. Yua is driving me to the stadium"
You furrow your eyebrows at his response. His voice sounded sad, even though it almost sounded monotone, but to you it sounded like he was dejected. You wanted to ask if he was fine but the abrupt sound of the call ending didn't make it happen. You explained the situation to the team, even though you were confused and worried but you carried on. Throughout the whole bus ride, all you felt was worry. What if something had happened to Ushijima? You ask yourself these questions.
The bus parks at the stadium. You hold up your wrist to look at the time. " ten minutes left until game time" you mumble. The sleeping heads of the boys rose up at the same time.
"We're here?" Goshiki's voice wakes the others up. Coach Saito claps his hands together to gather attention. " Alright guys, let's all head to the gym quickly. The other team must be warming up already"
All of you began to unload from the bus. You see a familiar man standing in front of the stadium with his hands inside the pockets of his jersey, a familiar woman stands beside him. Your feet quickly walks towards the two, worried so sick that your heart was about to pop off.
" Wakatoshi!" You greet him with a hug. Ushijima wraps his arms around you, trying his best to maintain positive. You break off from the hug and smiled at Yua, who returned a kind smile back to you. " Sorry. We had a little mishap at home" she announces sadly. Ushijima looks away before you could ask him. The team catches up to you and asks Ushijima the necessary questions. He shrugged it off and told the team he had something important to do, which in return, worried you even more.
Yua told you she was going to watch the game and that comforted you a little bit. With no time to prepare in the locker room, you and the team head to the gym. The loud cheers from the cheering squad echoes through the stadium. Familiar jerseys of black and orange all face you and the team, the boys from Karasuno stare at Shiratorizawa with the look of determination and greed. For some reason, it gave you the creeps. Like they were ready to devour any sort of food in front of them, and it didn't matter what type of food it was. Another set of loud cheers flood the gym but this time it was from Karasuno. Compared to the Karasuno cheering team, your squad fills up almost half of the seats. Shiratorizawa takes full pride of their school's volleyball team and the numbers speaks for itself.
Ushijima walks in front of the team with full confidence while the cheers get louder and louder. You grab their attention by gently whistling on your metal whistle. " Spiking warm ups" no other words were needed for the team to grasp what you were saying. Quickly, like a row of ants carrying their food, the team prepares the basket of balls and begins their spiking warm ups. They all line up expect for Shirabu and Ushijima, who were standing in front of the net.
With a high set from Shirabu, Ushijima takes three giant steps forward and jumps up with all his might. He spikes with brute force, a force so strong that the ball reflected off the shiny wooden floors and unto the watchers' seat above. Ushijima walks off like what he just did didn't surprise every one in the gym. Ohira follows, then Goshiki, then Tendou and so on. Each spike causes a different reaction from the other team.
" So that's one of the guys that l/n-chan told us about?" Semi questions Tendou after an orange haired boy came over to your side to pick up a wandering ball. " Yep yep. Hopefully f/n-chan's info spill about them become useful in this game." Tendou raises an eyebrow and smirks. Semi shrugs both of his shoulders and gives Tendou a smug look. " It's not like we need it"
" What a smug character you are, Semi semi" Tendou teases, wriggling his index fingers up and down. " Don't call me that!" Semi gives Tendou an angry look. The team looks at the other side of the court, Karasuno's first year duo was beginning to do their spiking warm up. They show off an exciting stunt, the orange haired boy spikes the ball straight down. The crowd goes wild over the little entertainment. You look at Ushijima who was staring at the opposing team.
" What's wrong Ushijima?" Concern fills your voice as you ask yourself the question.
" Did the setter even touch it?" Tendou freaks out over the duo's stunt.
" I'm surprised Seijoh didn't make it this time, but Karasuno is pretty fun" Yamagata Hayato replies with a determined expression on his face. Goshiki stands in front of the two, his posture radiating full confidence.
" It doesn't matter who we're up against, we'll shut them down!" With his hands on his waist, Goshiki dictates with full confidence, causing the two boys to giggle a little. " Talk big when you can actually back it up" the introverted Shirabu walks over only to say it to Goshiki.
" Now, now, now I think your bangs and your words are cool as ever, Tsutomo " Tendou compliments Goshiki with a smug on his face.
" Tendou, I Think you're babying him too much, you're the problem here." Kawanishi, scolds the red head.
" Harsh! You're too harsh Taichi. After all, we have to compliment the future ace of the team right?" Tendou wiggles his head up and down with a teasing smile on his face.
" I'LL DO MY BEST NOT TO LET YOU DOWN!" The boys stand there with smiles on their faces, complimenting Tendou inside their minds for firing up the simple minded guy.
The sound of the referee's whistle signals the game is about to begin. Ushijima and Karasuno's captain stand in front of each other, exchanging hand shakes. Both teams line up on their respective side of the court as the announcer introduces the game.
You sit on the bench along with the coaches, your heart pounding super hard that it seems like it will pop out your chest anytime soon. There was something weird happening today, and that is, you weren't getting any bad feelings. Usually, you'd feel like something is going to happen and that'd normally make you nervous. However, today you were calm, which unsettled you.
The game begins. The other team's jersey number 1 starts off with an overhand serve, to which Goshiki receives beautifully and returns it to Shirabu. Ushijima prepares for a spike. You bring your notebook closer to you chest, preparing yourself to witness your boyfriend's powerful spike. The spike that made you fall in love with him in the first place.
You hold your breath as soon you spot three blockers getting ready for a commit block. " Come on.." you chant quietly. " None of you can get that, come on..." Ushijima goes for a straight shot, the other team's libero reacts quickly by positioning himself to receive the ball. However, not even a good libero can successfully receive Ushijima's spike on the first go. The ball bounces off of the libero's arms, giving the first point to Shiratorizawa. Cheers echo throughout the gym, the cheer team shouts Ushijima's name proudly.
You let out a sigh. " You got it... " you get mad at yourself for doubting Ushijima earlier.
The libero continues to fail at receiving Ushijima's powerful spikes and each time he lands a point, he looks over at you. You give him a proud smile each time.
" This should be good" you turn to coach Saito who had a satisfied smile on his face.
" We can definitely win this game"
Hearing his words was supposed to comfort you, calm you down yet why. Why did you get an unsettling feeling rising up in you? Is it just your overthinking mind? Or is it something else?
" What the hell" you mumble to yourself. For some reason, your eyes were glued to the other team's blonde-haired middle blocker. He was quieter than the rest of his teammates, he almost reminded you of Ushijima when in game.
" We will definitely win this game" you reiterate the coach's words to yourself, clutching your notebook close to your chest with your eyes closed. After all, this game determines whether or not you can continue to manage the team.